CFS / ME suffers thread: Support, chatter and (caffeine free!) chocolate.

[SirBoobAlot]

As prompted from another thread :) Welcome, one and all!

Not what you needed at all!
It really bugs me that everything is put down to mental health especially if female and either young or middle aged! My (very self efacing) dsis was admitted to a physch ward after collasping dispite knowing she had had chemo and radiotherapy and they probably should have listened to her when she said she thought the cancer had come back - it had and she died a few weeks later!

Boob - sorry you had such a bad time with Dr some of them should be shot!
Sorry I have been AWOL for a couple of days very tired now I'm 38 + 3 tomorrow and all I want to do is sleep but am awake in early hours in pain walked to DD school this afternoon to pick her up with DH and have been in agony since! Oh well not long to go.

Good Luck MrsSnaplegs, hope it all goes well - labour and birth. Enjoy your little one. It's so special having a newborn...

I still don't get the pain/ feeding connection. I thought bf'ing released all sorts of endorphins which are really good for you. Is she worried that you are being drained of nutrients? Can't you take a supplement if so? Had bath with my twins today and ds2 (25months) poked my boobs and said 'Mummy's boob, milks all gone!". He actually refused it a week after I stopped and it was still engorged, needed draining (dd obliged thankfully).

Thanks for your support, gals.

MrsSnap, how are you feeling? I hope labour and birth go well for you - I think the time after the birth was about the only time I haven't been in pain for years!

Magso so sorry about your dsis :( That's shocking.

I took the AD sedative the doctor suggested I try the other night. I slept fantastically - but was unable to stay away properly to take care of DS when he woke to feed. I had told my mum before I took them so she knew. But its just not safe for me to take them :(

However, being positive: my place is starting to come together nicely now. Am counting down the days till there are no more stairs to climb!

sirboob what has Dr given you - I found eventually I got over the hangover/can't wake up effect but could still sleep with them. May be worth sticking with them whilst you are still at home with Mum around to help.

My normal pain levels have been much better whilst pregnant but the past couple of weeks they are creeping back which is what makes me think I'm due soon. Lots of backache still and some definate period type pain but nothing regular.

Finished work today for mat leave but unless baby arrives in next hour he has to wait until Monday after first ashes match is finished
DD held out until after we won the ashes in 2005 - born 8 days late the day after the last match! If she was a boy she would have been named after the whole team

Hope all goes well for you Mrs Snaplegs.
It must be very difficult with young children and debility (especially 3 Merry!)- its hard enough with an olderchild who needs constant support.
SirBoobalot thanks - it was a long time ago.

Morning Magso - I am exceptioanlly lucky to have a wonderful DH who is very supportive which is what enables me to continue working He is SAHD and does everything! I just walk 5 mins to work and sit behind a desk normally

Sirboob - what an awful GP - I hope you complained about her.

Thanks to those who sent congratulations and sorry for the delay in getting back on the thread.

I am crazy tired now that pregnancy hormones have kicked in in earnest. I already only work 3 days per week but am wondering if I'll manage. My employers are great though and was wondering whether to tell them sooner rather than later if the tiredness starts interfering with my work. Ideally, I'd wait until after the first scan. Did anyone else spill the beans early and how did your boss react?

Zanzicat Any possibility of working from home? Have work done a H&S Risk Assessment on you yet?

MrsSnaplegs, I could do some aspects of my work from home but not all of them. I haven't told them I'm pregnant yet (only 6 weeks) so no risk assessment done.

zanzicat ok can understand not telling them yet as many people want to wait but you can tell HR (if they have a dept) and tell them it is to be kept in confidence. I had to tell work early because of the type of job I was doing at the time. When you do tell them it may be worth going with a plan to say - ok these bits of the job I can do from home so either can I do that and work a shorter day or work 1 day from home.
You may find like others of us that you actually feel better all round in a couple of weeks just remember DON'T TRY TO DO TOO MUCH

Zanzi its always difficult knowing when to tell people isn't it? Be it work, family, whatever. Guess go by what is best for you. You could always say that you are struggling a bit at present (not lying) and then after your scan say that in a routine check they found out? Or something!

I have a wedding to go to this weekend, and although the wedding itself shall be lovely, I'm sure, its a 5 hour drive away, with a toddler, in the predicted weather. I'm dreading it.

Does anyone else get very anxious in the car? I get shaky and nervous. I'm sure part of it is down to my mental health, but it seems to have got worse since the M.E. came about. I wonder if its something to do with being unable to process how quickly things are moving..?

I haven't been able to drive for 3 years due to my balance issues - I seem to get vertigo going over bridges and high roads.

Sirboob I would definitely complain!! What an awful GP.

I am really lucky that I have found a good one and I stick to her, even if I do have to wait weeks for an appointment.

I have rectal bleeding on and off. Used to get piles, not the protruding sort though. Use cream and it would go away but it would be recurring, usually a result of my straining too much I think (sorry for the tmi).

Now I get quite a lot of anal fissures, since I had DS and has a third degree tear. They are pretty painful and there is bright red blood. I can use anusol or they tend to clear up themselves. They do tend to recur though.

Hi Everyone, I've just spotted this in "active" too, too wiped out to say much, but another suffer here too

all started to go pear shape over 7 year oga after I went back t work too soon when DD was tiny, by 9 months I had ran myself into the ground & have never fully recovered,

initially DX with Fibromyalgia, but I had a lot of symptoms that didn't seem to fit, so kept pushing, & eventualy saw ME specialist in the hope of getting further tests, ended up with full blown ME diagnosis about 4 years ago

with hindsight, I think I've had FM for a lot longer, but had other diagnosis that added up to FM, such as Chronic Sinuse disease, IBS etc........but its never stopped me living my life, so I now believe it to be ME that knocked me for 6 & forced me to give up work in 2002

, over the years I've found a lot of ways to cope, mostly natural, diet etc & not much help medically, but at least my current GP is a star, my old 1 wasn't

but it still has me in its grip, & my life is ruled by it, in order to have any life at all, IYSWIM

& times like now when I play at being "normal" it comes back & bites me on the bum BIG time , back to croaking, acheing, not sleeping etc etc .....that will teach me

I didn't realise there were so many of us on here , not sure if thats a :) or a :(

sirboobalot Does anyone else get very anxious in the car? I get shaky and nervous. I'm sure part of it is down to my mental health, but it seems to have got worse since the M.E. came about. I wonder if its something to do with being unable to process how quickly things are moving..?

I had to reply to that....yes big time .......... I didn't drive a car, never took my test, as was in London & no point there, but did have a motorbike licence, & intended to Drive after I moved, but just couldn't due to balance/spacial awareness problems, & like you get irrationally jumpy in alsorts of situations, .....in my mind I'm fine, just somehow my body over reacts to things I mentally don't even fear

im the car, been known to stiffle a scream & brace myself, totally irrational, but I just couldn't judge where there cars were on the road, much to DHs amusement

so for a long while I could onl;y sit in the back seat :( ........but recently things have improved :) I'm finding I can sit in the front again :)

I also have high BP, & for years not got on with the drugs they've tried, 1 put me in A&E, with heart pain, racing etc.......turned out to be a panic attack...caused by low pottasium levels....they said probably caused by the BP drug..........

you might want to google low pottasium, it makes interesting reading

turned out my pottasium showed up low several other times, but my diet was good & I also tended to crave pottasium rich foods, but GP didn't take it that seriously, as it wasn't as far as they were concerned..too bad

recently I was given another new BP drug...... this one works differently & in doing so also ups the pottasium in your system...........I've noticed a massive difference since taking it, I also lost inches around my middle, practically over night, due to fluid

sorry, waffling, hope it makes sense - exhausted, but wanted to share whilst I remember in case it might be of help

Morning all, hope everyone is ok today. I am struggling now and dong very little - thankfully have DH ! I need to try and get my mojo back before this lo arrives but know if I do too much I won't have energy for labour.
The driving thing seems more common than I realised - feel better about it knowing that! I also have problems on stairs and escalators, I actually got sent for CBT for the escalator stuff which was amusing- nice to be told by MH expert I wasn't depressed though, had same affirmation from chronic pain consultant the escalator therapy helped and once I have had the baby I have asked to try it for driving.

Starting to get some pain back in feet think it is combined effect of weather and not wearing shoes as much
boob hope the move is going ok

I don't have a problem driving, although I don't drive if I am exhausted as my concentration is zero and I forget what I am doing.

Interested about escalators. I walked down the moving one in Tesco once and I spent the whole time walking around feeling as if I was still on it and feeling really dizzy and ill. I refuse to move on them now and just stand there while everyone else goes past.

Is anyone else hating the snow? I can't get out of the house. Its not that deep, but its slippery and disorientating.

Hope you're all well.

Hi It's nice to see a new ME thread. It'll take me a while to catch up but it's brightened a rather pants day for me.
Briefly - ME for 11 years. 1ds of 7.

Welcome, Coro :)

Yes I find slippery conditions difficult - and I have asthma which is worse in the cold .
Rockyhippy - interesting point about the potassium. weakness is my number one sympton I call it fatigue but really it is weakness. Struggle to dress because my arms ache like I had done 50 pullups! But after months of high dose prednisolone (to sort my lungs out)since I came off the aching is not as bad. I have been eating potassium rich foods to try to reduce leg cramps.
I've always struggled with escalators - but it is worse now. Went to see a film ( harry potter) and the fast scenes made me feel dizzy - thank goodness we did not see it in 3D!
I was wondering if others have had labyrinthitis / inner ear problems . Looking back I think my troubles started with this and maybe I didn't slow down enough!

I'm rubbish with films and escalators too. I can sometimes manage escalators, but its not pleasant. DP has a thing for foreign films, and I can't watch them as can't do subtitles / movement on screen at the same time.

Magso know what you mean about the fifty pullups! Brushing / washing my hair is so difficult. I did consider getting it all cut off so it was easier to deal with (its quite long right now) but on the other side of the coin, because it is long, I can just throw it up, and get away with not washing it if I need to

Hi Coro

Magso I know about the pull ups thing as well - had my long hair cut short for convenience and now have to spend longer on it going for the Annie Lennox crop today.

I know my balance issues aren't labrynthitis or ENT related as I have been checked by specialist. I do have concentration issues which would make a subtitled film difficult, it stops me enjoying a good book when I am unwell.

They are coming to fit my handrails in the house today - only been in 4 weeks - why the rush I mean I'm only 9 months pregnant living in an unsuitable housing allocation and only fallen twice so far Probably won't turn up with the 2 inches of snow we have anyway

Oh gosh MrsS I hope they are up and helping now.

Have you tried audio books? I struggle with reading too, which is a shame, as I used to adore it, and I have hundreds of books But now its just so hard. I get second hand ones from ebay / amazon / charity shops, and there are a few places online you can download for free. Am currently listening to The House Of The Baskavilles again, its fab :)